Rock the Vote

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Rock the Vote is a non-profit political advocacy organization founded in Los Angeles in 1990 by Jeff Ayeroff, co-chief of Virgin Records. The first Rock the Vote campaign was called, "Censorship is UnAmerican." A series of public service announcements (PSAs) featuring Iggy Pop, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Woody Harrelson aired nationally that year.

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In 1991, Rock the Vote supported the National Voter Registration Reform Act (NVRA), also known as the Motor Voter Bill. Rock the Vote efforts, including artist PSAs and "Dear Senator" postcards on the now-defunct CD longboxes, contribute to Congress passing the Motor Voter Bill. The bill is ultimately vetoed by President Bush, but will later be signed by President Clinton in 1993.

In 1992, Rock the Vote produces PSAs with artists including R.E.M., En Vogue, Aerosmith, Queen Latifah, Eddie Vedder and others. The PSAs air on networks such as MTV, VH-1, BET and Fox. Rock the Vote also partners with the National Association of Secretaries of State to produce additional PSAs for local television broadcast.

Fox Television broadcasts a one-hour, Peabody Award-winning Rock the Vote television special hosted by Queen Latifah and featuring Michael Douglas, Madonna, Robin Williams, Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock and others.

Rock the Vote and its partner organizations register 350,000 young people and help lead over two million new young voters to the polls. On Election Day, these young people reverse a 20-year cycle of declining participation with a 20 percent increase in youth turnout compared to the previous Presidential election.

In 1994, Rock the Vote creates and distributes over one million free copies of “Rock the System: A Guide to Health Care for Young Americans,” a pamphlet on health issues affecting young people. The First Annual Rock the Vote Patrick Lippert Awards is held in memory of Rock the Vote’s founding Executive Director, Patrick Lippert, who died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1993. R.E.M. accepts the inaugural award, honoring those making a significant contribution to our common future through extraordinary achievements in empowering young people.

Famously, in a 1994 Rock the Vote event that was aired on MTV, 17-year-old Laetitia Thompson, daughter of NBC Reporter Lea Thompson, asked President Bill Clinton, "Boxers or briefs?" After a brief moment of surprise, Clinton responded, "Usually briefs."

In 1996, Rock the Vote debuts the first program to register voters by phone, 1-800-REGISTER. Closer to the election, Rock the Vote converts the number into 1-800-ROCK VOTE to give callers the number of their local elections office to request absentee ballots or locate their polling place. Working with MCI, Rock the Vote develops the first web site to offer on-line voter registration, dubbed NetVote ’96.

Rock the Vote develops PSAs with artists like Drew Barrymore, Seal, LL Cool J, Chuck D, Joan Osbourne, Coolio and Hootie & The Blowfish, airing them on MTV, VH1, ABC, CBS, USA Networks and DIRECTV.

Rock the Vote goes on the road with the MTV "Choose or Lose" Bus and registers almost 40,000 voters. Rock the Vote registers over 500,000 new voters through radio partners, volunteers, concert tours, MTV’s Choose or Lose bus, 1-800-REGISTER, and NetVote ’96.\

Rock the Vote and MTV publish 200,000 copies of a free non-partisan voter guide, educating young people about the issues and candidates in the 1996 election.

Chuck D of Public Enemy and Hootie & The Blowfish are honored at Rock the Vote’s Third Annual Patrick Lippert Awards.

In 1997, Rock the Vote receives the Computerworld Smithsonian Award for Innovation in Technology in recognition of its 1996 telephone and Internet voter registration programs.

In 1998, Rock the Vote partners with Rhino Records to produce “Schoolhouse Rocks the Vote,” including performances by Joan Osbourne, Isaac Hayes, The Roots, Etta James, John Popper and more.

In 2000, Rock the Vote relaunches its online voter registration application on its newly redesigned web site at www.rockthevote.com, registering almost 165,000 new voters. For the first time, visitors to the site can apply for absentee ballots, with over 20,000 young people using the service. Rock the Vote partners with Russell Simmons’ 360HipHop to create Rap the Vote 2000, asking members of the hip hop community to "Register. Vote. Represent." Television PSAs are produced featuring Puff Daddy, Mary J. Blige, Rosie Perez, and LL Cool J.

A series of new print PSAs telling young people to "Piss off a Politician" and vote are produced and run in national magazines including Rolling Stone, Vibe, Young and Modern, and The Source.

In 2004, Rock the Vote reaches a new level with perhaps the nation's largest ever voter registration campaign. More than 1.2 million young people used the RtV website to register to vote. More than 15,000 RtV volunteers and local partners register an additional 200,000 voters. Partnering with "VoterCall," RtV makes hundreds of thousands of GOTV contacts to young people who registered through the RtV website.

In 2004, Rock the Vote also raised awareness about the problem of student voting rights, encouraging students to fight back against efforts to suppress their vote such as occurred at Prairie View A&M University, College of William and Mary, and many others. The group also focused on health care issues, decrying the fact that more than 13 million 19-29 year olds nationwide had no health care at the time. The group encouraged politicians to close the gap on health care availability by extending eligibility for dependents under private coverage through age 26 and requiring schools to offer insurance to students.

Rock the Vote also launched one of the first large scaled mobile phone political engagement projects, partnered with Motorola; more than 118,000 people sign up to get information on their mobile devices. GOTV messages included celebrity voicemails that explained how to find a polling place via the web or through an automatic patch-through to 1800MYVOTE1.

Celebrities that supported RtV in 2004 included Kate Bosworth, Eva Mendes, Maroon 5, Q-Tip, Paul Van Dyk, Ben Jelen, Jada Pinkett Smith, Joss Stone, Josh Hartnett, Jill Scott, Snoop Dogg, Eliza Dushku, Christina Applegate, Tamyra Gray, Alyssa Milano, LL Cool J, Vanessa Carlton, Black Eyed Peas, Amber Tamblyn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake, Benicio del Toro, Samuel L. Jackson, Ricky Martin, Lil' Kim, Paris Hilton, Angie Harmon & Jason Sehorn, Rosario Dawson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal and stars from all The WB shows, among many others.

With CNN, Rock the Vote organized "America Rocks the Vote," a Democratic Presidential Candidates Forum at Faneuil Hall in Boston in November of 2003. This debate was considered by many to be the liveliest and most informative of the entire race.

During the 2004 presidential election the group drew criticism from Republican Party officials such as RNC chairman Ed Gillespie for sending a mock draft notice to over 600,000 e-mail addresses. The message included the words "Selective Service System" and read "You are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States, and to report to a polling place near you" on November 2 (Election Day). The Rock the Vote logo and a facsimile of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's signature appeared at the bottom of the message. In addition, Rock the Vote created public service announcements featuring the subject of the draft.

In a letter to Rock the Vote president Jehmu Greene, a Democratic Party activist, Ed Gillespie accused Rock the Vote of "promoting a false and misleading campaign designed to scare America's youth into believing that they may be drafted to serve in the military." Gillespie's also claimed that the "urban myth regarding a draft" had been "thoroughly debunked" by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld, Gillespie wrote: "This is the sort of malicious political deception that is likely to increase voter cynicism and in fact decrease the youth vote, as well as raising serious legal issues regarding the political motivations of your efforts." ^[1] Rock the Vote replied pointing out that General John Keane, former Vice Chief of Staff of the US army "says the continued success of the all-volunteer military is not guaranteed" Keane has told Congress that adding more than 50,000 troops to the Army would require thinking about a return to the draft"^[2], and saying her organization wanted an "educated dialogue".

According to the Los Angeles Times, Rock the Vote experienced financial problems in the aftermath of the 2004 election. It emerged from the election $700,000 in debt, and its president resigned in the summer of 2005 "amid disagreements about the organization's direction."^[3] Working with founder Jeff Ayeroff, political director Hans Riemer lead the effort to rebuild for the 2007-2008 presidential cycle.

The group states that it is non-partisan. Some people disagree,^[4] noting that it promotes books and organizations that are describe themselves to be "progressive" while advocating "progressive" ideas in areas such as jobs, health care, and social security.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] The organization's timeline states it was founded as "a response to a wave of attacks on freedom of speech and artistic expression"^[9]. It was once affiliated with MTV, Dixie Chicks, and P. Diddy.